Worried Sick
by SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Eddie is a stubborn idiot who doesn't want to ruin date night with a little illness. Venom acknowledges that Eddie is an idiot, but that doesn't stop them from being very concerned about something being wrong with Eddie that they are not capable of fixing. (one-shot)


Eddie groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, and felt like he was dying. His head was pounding, it sounded like his ears had been stuffed with cotton, his eyes were watering, his throat was sore, and most urgently-

He leapt out of bed and lunged for the bathroom, but didn't quite make it in time because all of his limbs seemed to be on strike at the moment and the sudden movement made his head spin, and ended up dropping down to his knees and vomiting all over the floor. He groaned again at the thought of having to clean that up, and also because the smell was only making him feel like he was going to puke again.

As he considered the idea of curling up in a ball on the floor and never moving from there again, Eddie could feel the slight tickling in the back of his head that meant Venom was waking up. Once Venom was fully awake, they instantly went into concerned mode. **Eddie, what is wrong with us? It is more difficult to understand your thoughts than usual, and we are in pain.**

Eddie swore under his breath at the thought of causing any pain to Venom. "I'm so sorry, darling," he croaked out. "It's nothing though, I promise. I just need some Dayquil, and then we can head into work."

He could feel the confusion swirling around from Venom, and waited patiently for them to say something. **But it is Sunday, Eddie. Is that not our day off?**

Oh yeah, so it was. It had somehow completely slipped Eddie's mind that it was the weekend. Not that news never happened over the weekend, and Eddie normally worked everyday because he needed the money to pay rent and feed Venom's huge appetite. But he'd asked for this Sunday off to go out on a date. It was starting to look like that might not be possible anymore.

 **Why isn't it possible?** Venom cried out in alarm. **Are we dying, Eddie?**

He scoffed at the symbiote's worry. "Neither of us are dying today. I just meant that-" he cut himself off as the rest of the sentence slipped his mind. All of his thoughts felt fuzzy at the moment. But he could focus on the disappointment Venom felt at the idea of their date being cancelled. Eddie couldn't stand the thought of letting his other down, so he struggled back up to his feet, using the wall as support. "There's no reason to cancel our date. I did promise that we'd go out today, right?"

 **Yes, you promised. But maybe before our date we should figure out what is wrong with you?**

The tone of Venom's voice made it sound like it was more of a demand than a friendly suggestion. Eddie snorted, and shook his head. "Fear not, for I already know the source of the problem. It's just a stupid little head cold. It'll go away within an hour of me taking the medicine, and you won't even be able to tell that there's anything wrong with me."

Venom didn't seem to buy it. **You need medicine?** There was the cozy feeling of Venom's friendly intrusion racing all throughout his body before they spoke again. **We cannot find anything that needs to be fixed,** they announced. **But medicine is only for when something is wrong?**

The confusion in their voice was adorable. "No, there's nothing to be fixed. Sometimes medicine is used for small things that don't even matter. Don't worry, I'm not going to ruin our date. I'm just going to-" he moved away from the wall, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. He could feel Venom's increasing concern, and did his best to fill his mind with thoughts of calm and healthiness.

It was a bit of a struggle, but with Venom's help, Eddie was able to choke down some cold medicine, mop up the mess of vomit off the floor, thoroughly brush his teeth to erase the taste of said vomit, and manage to take an entire shower without slipping and falling. Eddie knew that a shower would be a good choice even if he didn't feel disgusting at the moment, because Venom loved hot showers. **You are never disgusting, Eddie,** Venom interrupted his stream of consciousness with. **You always feel good to us.**

Eddie smiled at the obvious affection, and then returned to the bedroom to find something to wear. Normally he would put in more effort on a date night, but first of all, he figured that Venom already knew and accepted every single part of him, so he had no reason to try and impress. And second of all, he felt too crappy to put in the effort, so he settled on a pair of jeans, and comfy worn out tee shirt, and his jacket.

Venom was the one who remembered to grab Eddie's keys, which was good, because otherwise they would have been locked out of their apartment. Eddie stumbled down the stairs, but managed to avoid actually falling thanks to his very tight grip on the handrail. Once they were outside, a refreshing breeze blew past. Eddie hadn't even realized how much he was sweating until he felt the cool air, and he grinned. He was already feeling better. "See, love? Nothing to worry about." He was already too used to ignoring the stares of strangers to feel bothered by it now.

Eddie couldn't quite remember where he'd originally said he would take his other for their date, and Venom didn't offer up any answers. He decided that a carnival that was in town for a couple of weeks would be romantic enough. He'd even try to block out his fear of heights long enough for them to go on the ferris wheel, since that was a classic ride to utilize on a date.

He swung his leg over his motorcycle, pulled on his helmet, and took off. Some people thought it was strange that he could be so afraid of heights, and yet love the feeling of speeding in a motorcycle so much. Maybe it was a little contradictory, but Eddie wouldn't trade this feeling for the world. It had been good enough before, but with Venom along for the ride to chat with, motorcycle rides had become something quite amazing to experience.

It didn't take too long for them to reach the carnival. It was still a bit on the early side, which was nice, because it meant that there were no big crowds or long lines to compete with. Eddie stopped in front of one of the game booths with a grin when he felt Venom's interest. "You want me to win you a prize?"

 **That yellow one is ours.**

Eddie could see the giant stuffed duck that Venom had focused on. "Sure thing." Winning a stuffed animal for someone was another classic date move, and Eddie wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for his other.

He forked over the money for the (highly overpriced) baseballs. He got three of them, and grabbed the first one to take his aim. He threw the ball as hard as he could towards one of the milk bottles, but somehow missed completely. The second one missed as well. Before Eddie could grab the third ball, he felt Venom take control of his arm, and they managed to knock down the hardest bottle. Control was returned to Eddie, and he grumpily pointed to the duck he had won. He felt like a disappointment for making Venom win their own toy, but he wasn't going to ruin the rest of the day with his grouchiness.

Just walking around the fairgrounds for a little bit was somehow enough to totally wind Eddie. He knew that he wasn't in the greatest shape, but he wasn't really that bad, especially with Venom inside of him. He couldn't think of any reason for why a few steps suddenly had him sucking wind and wheezing loudly.

After introducing Venom to the pleasures of cotton candy, he took the opportunity to sit down at one of the wooden picnic tables, and hoped that Venom wouldn't eat too quickly. He could feel his headache from earlier returning, and wished he'd been smart enough to bring the entire bottle of Dayquil with him. Oh well, it was too late for regrets now.

Eddie ended up indulging Venom in way more junk food than he should have, though part of that was because he wanted the continued excuse to stay seated, and part of it was because he felt too out of it to even be bothered to say no. But after a little while, food wasn't enough to occupy Venom's attention, and they demanded that they get to try out some of the rides, just like they'd seen in a movie.

Eddie reluctantly agreed, and did his best to ignore the fact that the whole world seemed to spin around as he stood up. Luckily, Venom was too distracted by the excitement of the carnival to notice Eddie's brief moment of weakness. The place had gotten a lot more crowded, but Venom seemed to enjoy it, so Eddie didn't want to ruin that.

They started towards the ferris wheel, but between one step and the next, Eddie felt like he was going to hurl again, and then, for just a second, everything went black. There was apparently no way to hide that from Venom. **Eddie! What is happening! Tell us how to fix this! You are not okay!**

"Don't worry about it," Eddie wheezed out. "It's out…" he trailed off as he fell unconscious.

Venom wanted to shriek loudly, but there were already so many people staring at their Eddie, and they didn't want to stay here any longer. They took over control of Eddie's body, freaking out about what could have caused him to just fall asleep in the middle of the day. They ran another diagnosis of his body, but couldn't find anything that it was capable of healing.

That left only one solution. According to the many TV shows Venom had seen, people in Eddie's condition were supposed to go to the hospital. But Venom hated hospitals because they held too many bad memories. Like being separated from Eddie, and hearing Eddie say that he didn't trust them.

But there was a small portion of a hospital that was more pleasant to be around, and that Venom wouldn't despise for looking too closely at their Eddie. So Venom hurried away from the carnival, completely disinterested in anything other than fixing up Eddie's body so that he would be awake and happy again.

They drove Eddie's motorcycle with nowhere near the same expert precision as him, and parked outside of the very familiar home of Anne and Dan. Venom paused for a moment to repeat their names a few times. It was the first time that Venom had realized that the names rhymed. Somehow, that seemed fitting. Like it meant that they had to keep being together for the pleasing sound.

But there were more important things to focus on at the moment. It was tempting to just smash the door down, but Venom actually liked the homeowners, and didn't want to make them mad enough that they refused to help Eddie. Plus there was the fact that Venom could still hear Eddie's last lecture after they'd broken a few more things than necessary.

Venom politely rang the doorbell using Eddie's hand, afraid to leave the body at all, in case they were the only thing keeping it alive at the moment. They knew that Eddie had said he wasn't going to die, but right now, Venom wasn't so sure how accurate that had been.

The door finally swung open after what felt like forever, and luckily, Dan was the one standing there. He had a slightly confused look on his face. "Eddie? What are you doing here?"

Venom brushed past Dan to force his way into the house. They hated speaking in Eddie's voice because it never sounded as good as when it was Eddie using it, so they decided to poke a little bit out of his body afterall. " **Eddie is hurt, but we don't know what is wrong with him."**

Dan frowned as he closed the front door, then motioned for Venom to follow him into the living room, and sit down on the couch. Venom obliged, mostly because they were actually very frightened, and didn't know what else they could do.

Dan asked a few questions as he investigated Eddie's body, and Venom did their best to avoid growling at him when he got too close. They knew that it was important for Eddie to get better, even if that meant that someone else would get to see him with his shirt off, as per Dan's request.

It took a worryingly small amount of time for Dan to step back and give Venom permission to put the shirt back on. "Looks like a classic case of a small fever building up into something bigger because a certain someone doesn't know how to just stay home and relax. I can give him something to bring down the fever, but for the most part, his body is going to have to use its natural defences. I'll be right back."

While Dan was fetching whatever it was that Eddie needed, Venom was aware of the fact that Eddie was awake again, and politely asking to have control of his body back. **You don't deserve it,** Venom snarled at him. **Look what you've done to yourself! What kind of loser lets a little illness get so bad? We are very disappointed in you, Eddie. But! At least this means we can nurse you back to health.**

Eddie laughed at that. "I'm looking forward to it, love." Venom sighed loudly, and then let Eddie have his body back.

Then Dan returned, and held out two pills and an ice compress. "Take the pills now. They'll make you sleepy, so you can just crash on the couch. Put the compress on your forehead. And try not to do anything too exciting while you're getting better, okay?"

Eddie nodded, looking like a chastised child. As he should, Venom thought. He deserved to feel bad for being so careless with his own health. "Thanks, Dan," Eddie said out loud. "I don't know where I'd be without you."

Dan snorted. "Me neither. Just don't say I never did anything for you." Then he walked away.

 **Eddie, you are forbidden to ever get sick again.**

"Oh I am, am I?" Eddie asked. Even with a scratchy throat, he couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.

Venom wasn't too concerned about that, though, because they knew that Eddie was actually listening to them, even if he was also joking around. **Yes. No more scaring us, Eddie. It is our job to be the scary one.**

Eddie nodded, and flopped down so he was laid out on the couch, his legs dangling over the arm. He reached up to plop the ice down onto his forehead. "I'm really sorry about all of this, I swear. I didn't realize that it was anything more than a little cold, I promise."

 **We believe you, Eddie. So you better believe us when we say that there will not be a repeat of this incident.**

"Aw, I love you too," Eddie said with a small contented sigh. "Thank you for always taking care of me."

Venom felt Eddie's emotions more muted than usual, but the love stood out, clear and strong. It wasn't just some fever dream forcing him to say it. It was simply a fact as far as Eddie was concerned. Venom was suddenly glad to be hidden away inside of Eddie, so that he would not be able to see their face heating up. **We love you as well, Eddie.** He was already asleep again, but Venom would be more than happy to repeat the message once he was awake. They knew that there were no hidden feelings between them, but it was still nice to say things out loud every once and awhile.

Neither of them could hide their amusement when Anne returned home late, and flipped on the light in the living room only to be startled by the sight of Eddie and Venom making out. She started to reprimand them, but then changed her mind and just headed up to bed. Venom and Eddie both snickered loudly, and then headed home.

Eddie was the only one laughing a week later, though, when Venom had caught the same illness as a result of all their make out sessions.


End file.
